Many types of medical and surgical procedures such as gastroenterology (during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCPs), esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGDs) and colonoscopies), cardiology (cardiac catheterizations), and interventional radiology, employ the use of cables, sutures, catheters, guidewires, balloons, rods or other medical devices during a single procedure. For such procedures it is traditional for medical assistants to supply the physician with the correct medical device at the appropriate time during the course of the procedure. Commonly, the handling of medical devices during the procedures is frustrating and burdensome because these devices can easily become tangled, and the medical devices that appear to be the same may be misplaced when they are of similar gauge, type, and/or length.
Although some medical devices can be dispensed from a traditional spool or circular coil container during the course of a procedure, it is often times desirable to have the medical devices precut to their desired length to minimize both the time of procedure and the risk of measurement error. For example, in procedures where sutures are used, the precut sutures are typically set in the contours of a folded or pleated towel. An inadvertent tug or jolt to the surface the towel is arranged on may ruffle or displace the folded or pleated towel portions, leading to wasted time and frustration. Often times when the towel is jostled the sutures will become tangled, knotted, and/or stuck together, which can be extremely problematic if sutures of various types or gauges are being utilized.
Certain devices have been designed with various degree of success in the art to address the problems inherent in keeping medical devices organized and readily available during medical procedures as previously described. For example, many of these devices require medical staff and surgical assistants to use clips resembling a clothes pin to manage the array of medical devices. However, the existing clips do not allow sequential capture and release of these accessories, which often leads to a tangled mess and additional frustration. Designs that have attempted to solve the inherent problems associated with managing medical devices and similar counterparts are provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,458,104 to Gautsche relates to a device for organizing and securing several IV lines together, and more particularly, to a device for organizing, securing and identifying a plurality of IV tubes in conjunction with an exterior structure. The device has a hollow cylindrical fastening member upon which a plurality of tube holding members of cylindrical bore are arranged. Each of the tube holding members is oriented perpendicularly to the fastening member's longitudinal cylindrical axis and has a full length longitudinal slit aperture opposite the fastening member, with the slit aperture accessing the holding member cylindrical bore. However, Gautsche's invention is larger than would be practical for use as a handheld surgery tool and it does not provide a means for controlled release of tubing, wires, or other surgical components.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,039 to Erickson relates to holding devices for retaining multiple surgical sutures. The suture holder utilizes a block or walled configuration constructed from a resilient material and a plurality of abutments defined by slits formed in the block. The abutments are aligned parallel with one another and are arranged so that opposing faces of side-by-side abutments contact one another with gentle pressure. Surgical sutures are positioned within the slits and held steady in desired positions by the opposing faces of abutments associated with the slits. Erickson's invention is also too large to be easily manipulated in a handheld fashion and it would be impractical for controlling the release of a single medical line due to its size. Furthermore, sutures of the same type can still easily become tangled and stuck together when they are placed in common slits of the device as illustrated in the disclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,692 to Bilweis describes a surgical thread dispenser having a ring-like structure so that it can be worn on the finger of a physician during surgical procedures. The surgical thread dispenser has a flat, cylindrical reel for holding a surgical thread wound thereon, a case for said reel enclosing the reel on one side and around the outer periphery thereof with an opening in the peripheral rim of the case through which the tread is dispensed from the reel, and a split finger ring affixed to the reel case through an arcuate membrane which enables the practitioner to hold the reel case in the palm of his hand while his fingers remain unencumbered. Bilweis's device is limited to dispensing surgical string, and it does not provide the ability to simultaneously control multiple medical lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,732 to Eisenberg discloses a hair graft support tray supported on a ring structure to be worn by a physician during hair transplant procedures. The tray has a plurality of receptors for supporting tissue grafts and a plurality of parallel grooves, each of which has at least one drainage hole. The tray is mounted to a support with a set of mounting grooves such that it can slidably detach from the support. Eisenberg's device, while handhold and portable, is directed to the field of hair grafting. The device does not aid in the management of medical devices such as cables, sutures, catheters, wires, balloons, or rods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,847 to Kesling relates to the field of orthodontics and teaches an elastic ligature dispenser for use by an orthodontist when desiring to apply one or more ligatures to an orthodontic system on a patient. A plurality of ligatures are secured to a support member, the support member being connected to a ring structure so as to provide quick and easy access to the ligatures when necessary. Kesling's apparatus is directed to the orthodontics field and is not useful for medical line management or organization.
U.S. Pat. App. 2007/0193903 to Opie et al. teaches a circular, medical guide wire containment/dispenser system. The circular body contains one or more spiral grooves closed by a matching, clip-on lid and there are preferably lateral and medial ramps or bumps on both sides of the spirals, which deflect the wires toward the center of the spiral. The deflection of the wires from the sides of the body reduces friction allowing for more efficient wire extraction. The Opie device is limited to guide wires and would be much too large and cumbersome to use as a handheld piece for managing medical devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,560 to George et al. discloses a compartmentalized pill dispenser having a protective outer sheath and an internal pill carrier within the sheath. The pill carrier has a detent mechanism capable of releasably stopping the sheath in relation to the pill carrier after each sequential pill cavity has been uncovered. The pill carrier is designed to dispense one pill at a time and can be colorized or color coded to designate the type of medication contained therein. George et al. discloses a unique dispensing mechanism. However, it is limited to carrying and dispensing pills and would be of no use in medical line management.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,548 to Carver et al. discloses a surgical ligature dispenser having a cylindrical casing, having two open ends enclosing a spindle, wherein a suture reel is fitted onto the spindle and dispenser. A ligature is fed through the side opened slot of the casing that anchors the spindle with the first opened end of the casing, while the spindle has a flange on one end and a beveled collar on the other end that fits through the second opened end of the casing and is snapped tight. Carver's dispenser is limited to a specific sized ligature of limited quantities, and can be rendered inoperable when the ligature becomes loose and jams the spindle within the casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,480,690 to Vigayangar discloses a suture organizer to maintain a plurality of sutures attached to a patient during a surgical procedure, comprising a hemostat retainer to receive and retain the finger hole, and a clasp to clamp a surgical drape to hold the suture organizer in position during operation. Vigayangar's device offers no means to secure wires or sutures within the organizer. Thus, sutures or catheters will most likely be entangled. Further, the device is placed in close proximity to drapes, posing contamination risk for the sterilized sutures or wires.
Thus, there is a need for a small, easy to use, hand-held medical device management unit which is capable of securing, making readily available, and maintaining control over capture and release of one or more medical devices.